Mobile marketing to reach $24B in five years, says study

By Mickey Alam Khan

January 15, 2008

Consumer adoption of flat-rate plans will contribute to the growth in mobile marketing revenue

A new study claims that mobile marketing revenue worldwide is projected to grow to more than $24 billion in 2013.

The growth is anticipated to be a thirteen-fold increase from the $1.3 billion spent on mobile marketing last year, according to ABI Research, New York.

“The clear difference is this market over the past twelve months has been the embrace of mobile marketing as an integral part of cross-media brand campaigns,” said ABI director Michael Wolf in a statement.

“Mobile is no longer off-limits in the minds of advertisers, but is instead seen as a very personal way to reach consumers who can be incentivized through information services and compelling content as well as through more directly relevant and targeted messaging.”

Consumer adoption of flat-rate data plans and mobile messaging will contribute to the growth in mobile marketing revenue. So will the emergence of platforms for advertising-supported mobile search, video and gaming content services.

That said, a recent ABI survey found that while consumers are initially leery of mobile marketing, their attitude changes based on the advantage they perceive for themselves.

So, while 54 percent of survey respondents said they were totally opposed to mobile marketing messages, 70 percent of them said that an incentive such as a ringtone or a free song would make them more receptive to mobile marketing.

There is no doubt, though, that the market will take time to organize, ABI admits.

New mobile marketing platform providers have launched. Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Nokia have invested heavily in this rapidly-evolving market. And ad networks and software firms such as AdMob, Millennial Media and Enpocket/Nokia are shaping the market.

In essence, mobile is following the Internet’s early days in the last decade.

“In these early stages, many of the technology platform players are also doubling as the interactive agencies for large brands,” Mr. Wolf said in the statement. “However, we see large ad agencies and their interactive divisions or partners increasingly working with key platform providers as roles become more defined."